Fisher Family Update
January 17, 2025
Good Afternoon Fisher Families,
On behalf of our entire school community, I want to wish you a happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day/ weekend. Monday's holiday provides us with a special opportunity to honor Dr. King’s legacy of hope, equality, and the tireless pursuit of justice. At Fisher School, we continue to embrace these values and emphasize the need to be kind, respectful and inclusive toward all our fellow students and staff. Dr. King's belief that individuals can make a difference is an ideal we promote and celebrate every day! Each morning we enjoy listening to the "Shout Outs" that are read on the announcements. These are students or teachers recognizing the kindness of others. However big or small these gestures are, we let our entire school community know that these are important and celebrate the individuals responsible for "making someone's day"! Hopefully this communicates to our students, in Dr. King's words, If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.
Please read through this week's newsletter for important updates, meetings and events.
Have a great weekend,
Brian
January
20 - No School, Martin Luther King Jr. Day
February
7 - Early Release, Dismissal at 12:25
17-21 February Vacation
24 - Classes resume
March
11 - Parent/Teacher Conferences 5-7pm
13 - Parent/Teacher Conferences 5-7pm
14 - Early Release, Dismissal at 12:25/Parent/Teacher Conferences 1-3pm
19 - PAC Meeting 7pm
28 - Early Release, Dismissal at 12:25
Special Request - Boxes of Cereal
All Fisher students (K-5) will be participating in a special team building activity in March. We kindly request donations of unopened, regular size boxes of cereal. We need approximately 500 boxes since we are looking for enough to line our halls to make a "domino formation". After our team building activity, the cereal boxes will be dontated to the Walpole Food Pantry. Thank you!
Snow Gear Reminder
If there is snow on the ground, please remember to send your students to school with snow pants, boots, hats and mittens (don't forget to label them) for recess. They will be unable to play in the snow without them.
Also, we are collecting, good to excellent, used snowpants and boots for students at Fisher. Please think of us if you are doing any closet cleanouts.
January Math Updates
When the calendar turns to January, while we might not be excited about the cold, teachers get excited about the amount of learning that is about to happen. January, February and March tend to be the most productive months of the school year. Routines have been well established, there are fewer interruptions in the school calendar and students and teachers are ready to dig deeper into the curriculum. Therefore it is a great time to talk about “Productive Struggle” in the math classroom. Productive struggle is the, “Process of effortful learning that develops grit and creative problem solving.” When students are involved in productive struggle they are more engaged with their work, making connections and trying different solutions and strategies. The focus turns away from getting it “right” to what are different ways to get there and show the thought process that got you there.
As teachers and parents, we can fall into the trap of providing too much help or too many hints because productive struggle can be uncomfortable. Our students are getting more and more used to immediate gratification with how technology has advanced over the years. If we truly want our students to grow as mathematicians and problem solvers, we need to take a step back and provide them with the opportunity to work through challenges. If we do, the benefits will include deeper conceptual understanding, enhanced problem solving skills, and a stronger growth mindset allowing students to overcome obstacles and think more creatively.
To promote productive struggle at home, when students are looking for help or hints you can try things like:
Asking them what they know about the problem and provide a scaffold from that point
Offer strategies and different starting points instead of hints
Praise effort and perseverance over correct answers (it is okay if they bring in an incorrect answer; it often is the start of a great math conversation!)
ClassDojo and Stanford University's PERTS research center created a three episode video series about perseverance, that your child can watch and discuss with you at home. These brief perseverance videos are also linked on The Power of Yet student page on our WPS Elementary Family Math site for future reference.
As your child works on a challenging problem, ask things like:
What is the question asking?
What information do you have?
Is there a tool or strategy that could help you?
The sense of accomplishment your student will feel after persevering and working through a tricky problem will be incredible and give them the energy to face the next challenge. If you’d like to read a little more about this topic, check out some of the articles below.
Productive Struggle & Math Rigor
Rally Against Cancer - January 2025
Fisher’s Finest returned from our Winter Break with enthusiasm and inspiration to move into high gear with our fundraising. Our new Green Monster Wall is up and ready for baseballs. We will be kicking off our My Grandma’s Coffee Cake fundraiser in the next week or so. And, our Change for a Cure has begun! Here is our link to join the Rally team or make a direct donation: Fisher's Finest Rally 2025. If you are on Facebook, you can follow us here. We are already off to an incredible start, thanks to our Meadow Farms fundraiser. With sales of over $17,000, we just today received a check for the Jimmy Fund for $11,821.55!!! Again, we offer our sincerest thanks to the Lodge family for sharing the link with so many, and to those who responded! There is more to come, and we are very excited!!
Our first baseballs have been hung on the 2025 Green Monster Wall of Honor. Donations of any amount can be sent in to school and a baseball in honor of or in memory of a loved one, friend, co-worker, neighbor, or anyone you choose will be posted on the “wall.” Photos are also encouraged. The forms were sent home with school messengers (the youngest child at Fisher) on Tuesday. If you need additional forms, please let me know. The wall happens to be across from my classroom, and I am always touched to see students walking by, pausing to look at and talk about those who are on the wall who they know. Perhaps a classmate donated for their grandparent, or a staff member for a student. This puts a face to cancer and makes it real and personal for everyone.
Teachers are being reminded to pull out their Change for a Cure jars to start collecting change. Our Change for a Cure will run for several weeks, until March 28th. Students can bring in change to add to the change jar that will be collected and counted weekly. They are encouraged to do chores around the house to earn money, or bring in the bottle deposit refunds they receive. If Fisher’s Finest is the top fundraising school, the class that donates the most money per student (one of the ways we incorporate math learning into Rally!) will earn a private Meet and Greet with the Red Sox player who comes for the visit! They get photos with the player and an autograph! It’s a way we teach our students that every penny counts and no donation is too small to make a difference.
Forms have also gone home for our coffee cake fundraiser. Our goal is to have the coffee cakes at school to be picked up on February 12th or so. Orders and payments are due January 24. This has always been one of our most popular fundraisers, with the coffee cakes making great gifts, and they freeze well, too!
If you want to order one of our exclusive Excuse Notepads for $5, all of which goes to our Rally, please click here: Student Excuse Notepad Order
Thank you all for your amazing continued support of Fisher's Finest!
Carolyn McDonough - Rally Captain for Fisher’s Finest cmcdonough@walpole.k12.ma.us
Private Lessons through the WPS Music Department
The Walpole Public Schools Music Department is pleased to announce the spring session for our Private Lesson Program for students in grades 4 - 12. If your child is interested in taking private instrument or voice lessons, here is your chance. Lessons are offered in flute, oboe, clarinet, bass clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, baritone horn, tuba, piano, percussion, violin, viola, cello, guitar and voice. All lessons are taught by accomplished performers on their respective instruments. Some lessons are currently being taught virtually.
Session 2 will run February 3 to June 13. Registration is open Friday, January 10th through Monday, January 27th.
For more information, visit:
https://sites.google.com/walpole.k12.ma.us/wpsmusic/private-lesson-program/overview
To register, visit:
https://forms.gle/YGBjnmVE1V57US2m9
For questions, email:
Tim Fleming (K-12 Music Coordinator) at tfleming@walpole.k12.ma.us
Main Office Information
Absences: If your student is going to be absent or tardy, please call the absence line and let us know in advance. You may call this line at anytime and leave a message. The telephone number is 508-660-7234 and then press 1
Dismissals: Please send a hand written note with your student in the morning or fill out this form with at least 2 hours advance notice.
Afterschool dismissal changes: If your student is changing their typical way of leaving Fisher at 3:25pm, please send a note into school with the plan that morning.
We understand that there are unavoidable last minute changes, however, please be mindful that we must call the classroom and upset time on leaning with each change.
Please feel free to email the front office: fisher-secretaries@walpole.k12.ma.us
